Just a Lucky Dog

Monday, December 5, 2016

How is it that I have never put this rice
recipe on this blog? That's crazy!

It is so easy and so delicious!

Well, of course it is!

It starts with a whole stick of butter!! :)

Here are the ingredients:

And here it is, finished.

Sometimes I make this for both Thanksgiving and
Christmas!

And here is the recipe:

RICE CASSEROLE

2 cans of Campbell's chicken broth

2 cans of Campbell's beef broth

2 cups uncooked white rice, not instant

1 stick butter, melted

4 green onions, chopped

4 oz. canned mushrooms, drained

(I don't ever put the onions or the mushrooms in.)

Melt butter in lasagna or similar dish in MW.

Put rest of ingredients into the dish.

Bake at 400° for 1 hour.

And even though I don't have any photos for
you, here is another recipe that I can't believe I've never shared here. Mr. Man always asks me to make this for breakfast functions at his workplace, and he tells me that it is always the first to go. (!)

SAUSAGE ROLLS

[This makes two separate logs.]

1 lb. sausage (Owens, Jimmy Dean…)

(1) 8 oz. box of Philadelphia cream cheese,
softened

2 crescent roll packages

1 egg white

Preheat oven to 350° F.

Brown sausage; drain on paper towels.

Mix sausage and softened cream cheese in a bowl.

Unroll one crescent roll pkg. & form into
a rectangle, smooshing seams together.
(I did it on waxed paper.)

Put half the sausage mixture down the
middle of the rectangle lengthwise.

Fold up sides and place in a 9X13 pan or on a
cookie sheet.

(This is easier to do holding the waxed
paper, instead of the crescent roll itself)

Do the same with the second pkg./half.

(Place them side by side)

Brush the egg white over the tops.

Bake 350° for 20 minutes.

I have these two recipes (and so many others) in my collection only because of kindhearted and generous cooks who shared their recipes
with me. I am so grateful that they did,
and now I'm passing them along to you and yours.

Friday, November 18, 2016

This little guy makes it look easy, but it seems to evade us more and
more as we get older.

Here are a few things that I
have uncovered in my quest to sleep better:

Melatonin, of course.

Valerian Root. (My mama used to call this The Poor Man's Muscle
Relaxer.)

Skullcap.

Various essential oils.

No caffeine.

A small snack before bedtime.

White noise.

A chilly room.

A dark room.

Binaural beats.

Various natural sleep
supplements.

We don't ever want to go the
Rx route, if at all possible. And we
would just use OTC sleep aids with diphenhydramine in them (Benedryl), which
work great, but that drug has been recently linked to developing dementia. (Well, all anticholinergic drugs have been,
unfortunately.) So, until the science is
clear about that, we avoid taking it as much as possible. (Sometimes, though, ya just have to make an
exception!)

Two things have really made a difference, and I
wanted to share them with you.

I read a blog written by an
orthopedic surgeon that suggested adding 2-inch memory foam to our beds. She said we lose our body's natural
cushioning as we age, and get bonier and pointier, which gets less and less
comfortable in bed while we sleep. Adding
this foam to your current mattress can help with all that.

We bought this one: Memory Foam Topper (There are others, of course.) We really love it, and even added a pillow top
cushion on top of that! (You may not want to.) But that way we
don't overheat from the memory foam, and it makes the bed even more luxurious
and cushier. We got this one: Mattress pillow topper

(BTW, I did have to buy a new fitted sheet, a deeper one, to accommodate
all this new stuff.)

The other thing is:

Magnesium.

But not just any magnesium.It turns out that magnesium citrate is great
for going to the bathroom, but it's
magnesium glycinate that you want to help you relax.

We take two pills 30 minutes
or so before bedtime, and it has really and truly helped me, especially, so
much! I have had trouble falling asleep
my whole life, and have dreamed over the years of finding an "Off
Switch", as it were. I may have
finally found it. (Here's a link to the
one we buy: Magnesium on Amazon )

Yes, the magnesium pills are
not on the small side, and you all know
how I feel about taking pills, much less horse tablets! LOL!!
But these are truly worth it. (Don't forget to use the Pill Glide spray to help with the huge pills!)

I am always looking for more
things to try, because there'sno
substitute for a good night's sleep.